With 2,375 votes in his favour, VS Negi, candidate of the RSS-backed National Democratic Teachers' Front lost by a small margin of 261 votes, he polled 2,375 votes in his favor.

Image for representation only.

New Delhi: Rajib Ray, member of Democratic Teachers' Front (DTF), became the President of the Delhi University Teachers Association's (DUTA) on Friday. Ray got 2,636 votes.

Ray will also lead the Federation of Central University Teachers Associations (FEDCUTA) which is a collective body of central universities.

With 2,375 votes in his favour, VS Negi, candidate of the RSS-backed National Democratic Teachers' Front lost by a small margin of 261 votes, he polled 2,375 votes in his favor. Ray is from Kirori Mal College and Negi from Shaheed Bhagat Singh College.

Other candidates, Sunil Babu from Rajdhani College, won by 48 votes while Surender Singh Rana from Shivaji College got 1930 votes.

In DUTA’s elected Executive Committee of 15 members, four are from the NDTF. With the president they will elect the vice-president, secretary, joint secretary, treasurer and five more members to the executive council.

Ahead of elections, Ray posted a letter on DTF to the fraternity of DU teachers appealing them to “save the idea of a university, we want for our children.”

He called for the unity of teachers and emphasised we "must be able to stand up against every unreasonable and vindictive minister, official, principal and bureaucrat. It must be able to isolate all those who work against Unity and cynically line up to get exclusive favors from the MHRD, UGC and University Administration. Only then will our fight against the hostile policies begin in right earnest."

Criticising the government, he wrote: "Over the last few years, the Government has unleashed an aggressive set of changes that threaten our security, the dignity of our profession, our opportunities and the inclusive character of our education system."